Romtelecom will be able to focus on providing new and innovative services to its subscribers as a result of a five-year managed services agreement with Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC). The Romanian operator is handing over responsibility for part of its field operations activities starting from January 4, 2010.

Yorgos Ioannidis, CEO of Romtelecom says: "This strategic partnership is in line with our commitment to become an even more efficient operator, and to continue to launch new and innovative voice, data, broadband internet and television services to our subscribers."

The contract marks the first managed services deal for Ericsson in Romania. Ericsson will be responsible for corrective and preventive field maintenance of switching and power systems.As a result of the agreement, about 400 employees from Romtelecom will be transferred to Ericsson, strengthening Ericsson's global services organization.

Ericsson is the world's leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. Ericsson is the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies, and provides support for networks with over 1 billion subscribers and has a leading position in managed services. The company's portfolio comprises of mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry. The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.

Ericsson is advancing its vision of "to be the prime driver in an all-communicating world" through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 75,000 employees generated revenue of SEK 209 billion (USD 32.2 billion) in 2008. Founded in 1876 with the headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ New York.

Ericsson has the telecom industry's most comprehensive managed services offering. It ranges from designing, building, operating and managing day-to-day operations of a customer's network, including end-user services and business-support systems, to hosting service-layer solutions and providing network coverage and capacity on demand. As the undisputed leader in managed services, Ericsson has officially announced more than 100 contracts for managed services with operators worldwide since 2002. In all current managed services contracts, excluding hosting, Ericsson is managing networks that together serve more than 350 million subscribers worldwide.